Anti-fracking campaigners fear drilling about to start at West Newton site in Holderness

CAMPAIGNERS are concerned drilling will start sooner than expected on a site they believe could lead to fracking. Lorries with drilling equipment and cabins arrived at the site north of West Newton, near Burton Constable Hall, at end of the week.

Rathlin Energy (UK) Ltd has also put up fencing and secured the site.

The move has raised concern among anti-fracking campaigners who have set up camps at West Newton and Crawberry Hill, near Walkington.

Richard Howarth, of Hull and East Yorkshire Frack Off, said: "There is supposed to be two weeks' notice given before work can start at either of these sites.

"But Rathlin has brought drilling equipment on to the West Newton site and we are concerned it is not adhering to that notice. It says it is just site preparation, but it doesn't seem that way to us.

"Rathlin keeps saying it is going to great lengths to keep the community updated, but it isn't and we just don't know what's going on."

Campaigners have also raised fresh concerns about lorries coming in and out of the Crawberry Hill site. A "no right turn" sign was taken down by police to allow lorries to leave in the same direction as they enter the site, to ensure campaigners could not hinder the vehicles.

East Yorkshire comedian and anti-fracking campaigner Jenny Ross said: "If the fracking industry gets a foothold in the beautiful hills of the East Riding, you will see 51 3,000-litre tankers come barreling through the dangerous backroads of Walkington on a daily basis.

"It is a very dangerous precedent for the authorities to put an industry's interests before road user's safety, but consistent in echoing the lack of caution and disregard for affected communities shown at national level."

But Rathlin insists it is doing everything within the agreed planning conditions and has nothing to hide.

A spokesman said: "We delivered some equipment and welfare facilities to the West Newton well site in Fosham Road.

"For reasons of safety and security, the HGV vehicles arrived at the site in convoy.

"We are sorry if this last-minute change of plan caused any local residents and/or road users any concerns.

"This equipment is to enable the company to drill two small water monitoring boreholes and to erect some additional fencing.

"There should be no need for any more HGV movements until the works are complete.

"From now, there are 24-hour security personnel present at the site.

"The perimeter ditches at Crawberry Hill have also been emptied following several days of heavy rain."

Dozens of members of the Frack Off group have pitched tents at Crawberry Hill and West Newton.

They want an explanation from Rathlin about plans for the wells in those areas.

Rathlin has always insisted it is not fracking – a way of breaking up shale rock to release natural gas – but campaigners are concerned after the Environment Agency granted Mining Waste Permits for the Canadian energy company to carry out testing at both sites.

The main concerns lie around the potential pollution of the aquifers and underground water supply.

HEY Frack Off meetings

A recent meeting at Walkington attracted about 100 people. Now, Hull and East Yorkshire Frack Off is holding a series of information evenings across the region this month, which all start at 7.30pm.

12 comments

At worker 11. Why the fixation with the guys laptop? Never mind.
I attach a link to an article written by the ex Vice President of Exxon Mobil on the danger and irresponsibility of H Fracking. Who am I too argue with him. Here it is.
http://tinyurl.com/kb7p638

"lets get fracking and try be more energy independent and bring our ridiculous energy prices down." ---
" during an interesting panel discussion at the Shale Gas World UK Congress, Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla Resources, Andrew Austin, CEO of IGas and Dan Byles, MP at the UK Parliament said it is unknown whether shale gas reduces gas prices or not." ---
"We are part of a well-connected European gas market and, unless it is a gigantic amount of gas, it is not going to have material impact on price". [shrug]

"They are not people that have come together around fracking because they have read the science." --err, except the ones with masters degrees in environmental science.
" They are politically opposed to the whole world - the one most of us live in - and would see it burn rather than be fed any longer." -- err, given the fact that forest fires, caused by changes in the jet stream over Russia doubled the price of wheat, it's pretty much the opposite.
"To hell with the fact than mankind engineers its way out of problems and that science can help yet again." -- comedy quote of the week. I didn't realise science was a divine gift from the angels that cannot be misused !! Quite amazing, an alarming level of hysterical, delusional frothing. Brains to solve the problem ? What problem ? Well, the problem of fossil fuel dependence and waste - the very big problem scientists seem to have got us into. Or was it the businessmen controlling the scientists ? This time it will be different, eh ? This time there will be no new problem to solve ?

The raw spite says a lot. It says if there was a problem none of you would care. I mean, really, quoting industry magazines to prove it's safe ? It's like quoting tobacco companies on cigarette safety - hardly going to confess to their problems are they ?
Oil and gas industry has a bad record in safety - explosions and slicks on an enormous scale - not least concerning the whole global climate. What makes anyone think it's different this time ? It's just laughable to say "Oh, they said it's going to be fine, so it will be."

Fracking is nothing new, texas_tiger sums it up correctly. Fracking is only a problem if done too close to the water table and aquifers. Given that the average well depth in this area will prob be around 5000 feet, so nowhere near water table etc. Walkington NIMBYs, you want petrol for your Range Rovers don't you? Fracking and shale gas is the future, get used to it NIMBYs and middle class hippies.

@Richard Howarth, of Hull and East Yorkshire Frack Off "But Rathlin has brought drilling equipment on to the West Newton site and we are concerned it is not adhering to that notice. It says it is just site preparation, but it doesn't seem that way to us."
Yes because you would now wouldn't you Richard, with all your years of working in the O&G drilling sector.
Still typing away on your mac book?

I'm for fracking if it can be done safely. Heres a chance to find out if it can. I think Hull Frack Off are just a bit miffed that they've been caught out that Rathlin have got some kit on site without them knowing.
On the subject of vehicle movements, it would be interesting to know how many milk lorries for example travel on the narrow lanes in East Yorkshire daily?? I remember well harvest time when you couldn't move for tractors and lorries carrying corn. With fracking the lorry movements are only going to happen when the wells are being drilled which isn't that long time wise.

In an attempt to develop some informed opinions about hydraulic well fracturing, this is an extract from an easily accessed web site. Just search on Rigzone. This is not new technology. It is much more controlled now than it was in the days of dropping sticks of dynamite in a well.
"Production can be achieved in these wells via a production stimulation method called well fracturing. Performed above the reservoir formation fracture pressure, well fracturing causes a highly conductive flow path between the reservoir and the wellbore. Well fracturing actually breaks or splits the reservoir rock open to encourage hydrocarbons to flow from the rocks into the well.
Performed after the well has been completed, or after the casing, tubing and perforations have been applied, well fracturing has evolved over time. Starting in the 1860s and used through the 1940s, explosive fracturing used to be the most common method of well fracturing. Explosive fracturing, also known as well shooting, detonated an explosive within the well to break the reservoir rocks.
Successful at stimulating production, yet dangerous, explosive fracturing introduced liquid nitrogen into the well via a tin cylinder referred to as a torpedo. The torpedo was lowered into the wellbore and detonated. The explosion created a huge hole that was then cleaned out and completed as an openhole, leaving the bottom of the well open into the reservoir.
Developed in the late 1940s, hydraulic fracturing, also known as a frac job, is the practice of injecting a well with large amounts of frac fluids under high pressure in order to break the rocks. Performed on both openhole and cased-well perforations, hydraulic fracturing quickly replaced explosive fracturing.
Used in a gel-like state, frac fluids consist of water and polymers, or long organic molecules that form a thick liquid. Both oil-based and foam-based frac fluids use nitrogen bubbles to achieve the fracture. Carbon dioxide can be used, as well, to minimize formation damage.
A frac job is performed in three steps. First, a large amount of frac fluids are pumped into the well. The high-pressure of the frac fluids and the continual pumping increases the pressure in the well, overcoming the strength of the reservoir rocks to break them apart. Fracing fluids are pumped into the well until the rocks are cracked to a desired length.
Then, frac fluid and propping agents are introduced into the well to extend the breaks and pack them with proppants, or small spheres composed of quartz sand grains, ceramic spheres or aluminum oxide pellets, that hold the fractures open after pumping has ceased. This is important, because then the hydrocarbons can flow through the open cracks in the reservoir rocks. Finally, the well is back flushed to remove the frac fluids.
Increasing both the rate of production and the overall production of a well, hydraulic fracturing is best employed in medium and hard formations. In fact, hydraulic fracturing is used in almost all tight gas sand reservoirs. In onshore US wells, approximately 50% of the gas wells and 30% of the oil wells are fraced.
Hydraulic fracturing can increase the production of a well by 1.5 to 30 times the initial rate of flow, as well as the overall production from 5 to 15%. Also, a well can be fraced multiple times during its production life."